US Senate defeats resolution to curb Trump’s war powers against Iran

The US Senate rejects a resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military strikes on Iran, in a narrow congressional show of support for a conflict launched without explicit approval from lawmakers.

The bipartisan measure, introduced by Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Rand Paul, would have required the withdrawal of US forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress authorizes the campaign.

But with Republicans holding a 53–47 majority in the upper chamber of Congress and largely backing the president’s decision to attack Iran alongside Israel, the resolution falls short by exactly that margin.

The vote comes five days into a rapidly expanding conflict that has already killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior figures in Tehran, while US troops have died in an Iranian attack on a US base in Kuwait.

Democrats argue Trump unconstitutionally bypassed Congress when he ordered the air campaign and say the administration has offered shifting justifications for the war.